Material and article handling apparatus



D. W. CAMERON.v MATERIAL AND ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS.

APFLIQATIOIIA FILED MAR-'12| ISIZI.

NVE/WOR IA `D, Cameron,

Arm/mers n. w. CAMERON.

MATERIAL AND ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS. 'APPLIcAnoN men MAR. 12, 1921.

113121161v Patented 00110, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

M Br f, A

E Y A TTORNEYS D. W. CAMERON. MATERIAL AND ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. l2. |921.

Patented 001:. 1051922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

/m/E/von .D W Cameron,

M70/mns D. W. CAMERUN.

MATERIAL AND ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS'.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I2, 192|.

n ,i x. Am 8 m me H 94. mm A 1 1 y 0 0, Ww 1, H H Il. A; @AES W CU 0m S vl m4 i m, a D1 .To tilt 107mm it' may concern Patented @et lo, 1922.

l Si lALZlt rarest orties.

DANIEL WEBSTER oaiiiERoN, 0E Airrroon, NEBRASKA.

MATERIAL AND ARTICLE HAN'IDILIINGv APPARATUS.

Application ined March i2, 1921. serial No. 451,915.

Be it known that l, DANIEL' WEBSTER. CAM- ERoN, a citizen. ofthe United. States, and a resident of Antioch, in the countyrvofuSheridan and State of Nebraska, have invented `certain new and useful Improvements in Material and Article Handling Apparatus,

of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates in general ,to material and article handling apparatus. and

. more particularly toy apparatus of this char# acter especially though not necessarily adapted for use in "loading grain into cars,

bins, cribs or the like. f i g The .object ofthe' invention is to provide -a `material and article handling apparatus of this character which will eiiiciently load the material upon `the car or the like, which will uniformly distribute the loadof the materialfover the area to `be loaded and which .l is ofsimple and durable construction, ,ree

liable in operation' and `easyand inexpensive' to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in certain novel `features of i construction, combination and arrangement illustration; n

Figure 5v is a similar view, partly in @1P/Va" of parts` which will be hereinafter Amore fully described and particularly pointed out inthelappended claims,reference being had to Vthe accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, and in which:

Figure l is av view of thevapparatus in use in loading a. railway; car, parts being shown in elevation and other parts being shown in section'for thesake of illustra non; i r y i c Figure 2 is a plan view of theiapparatus in one position, the top of the carbeing re-` moved for the sake of illustration.;

.Figure 3 is a similarview ofthe apparatus in the` opposite position;

Figure 4 is a detail" view in transverse section taken approximately on line lv-t of Figure, parts being broken away and parts being :shown in elevation for thesake of tion and part-ly in sectiontaken approxi-- mately on line 5-,5 ofFigure 2, partsbeingl broken away and parts ,being Ysh'owninele` f vation and in section for the sake' of illustration;` l f Figure 6 is a detail view, in section, taken approximately on line 6-6 of Figure 5, the associated structure being omitted.' i

Referring tothedrawings `wherein for the sake` of illustration the invention is shown in use witha railway car, therailway car being designated at R and being proff. erably of` conventional construction. The sides and bottom wall of the car define a container similar `to that defined by like walls of a bin, crib or the like.

Longitudinal stringers 10 are arranged along and secured to the interior of each of the side walls and extending ybetween and retained on these stringere are a plurality of cross bars 11. These stringers and cross bars constitute supporting means for the instrumentalities to be hereinafter more fully described. ,y y A platform designated generally at l2 is arranged upon the supporting means and in-` cludes spaced and longitudinal angle bars 1 3 secured together by means ofbraces le or the like. Flanged rollers or wheels l5 are carried by the angle bars by means of suitable brackets 16, and thesey flanged wheels run upon the cross bars 1l `whereby the platform is mounted for transverse movement. The angle bars 13` include vertically extending portionslb` and smooth horizontally extending Aportions ,A 13a which together constitute a way in which a bottom plate 17 is slidably mounted for longitudinal movement, that is, the bottom plate 17 lis movable at right angles or angular-ly with respect to the movement of the platform itself. p

Mechanism is provided for moving the .platform transversely under. the r'control of the operator and comprises the rack bar 2O having one end secuied'to the platform and extending exteriorly of the car. The rack bar 20 is preferably made Vup of a plurality of sections 2()a suitably united by universal joints or couplings 20b permitting the req uisite movement, and as shown in Figure 2, the teeth of these sect-ions are adapted to mesh with a drive pinion 22 fixed to a shaft 23 kjournaled in suitable bearings in the frame 24- and` actuated by any suitable means whichforthe sake of illustration is shownas a hand crank 25 but it is to be understood that a motor orthe like may be em ployed if desired. The movement of the platform is made uniformV and precisely the same at both ends and throughouty its length by means of sprocket chains 21 having ltheir ends secured to the platform and run over idle sprocket wheels 2la carried upon suitable shafts 2lb. .Mechanism is also provided for imparting longitudinal movement to the bottom plate 17, and this mechanism includes a raick bar 26 fixed to the underside of the bottom plate and engaged by a pinion 27 keyed or otherwise secured to a shaft 28 journaled in suitable bearings 29 and actuated by means ofa hand crank 30 or the like arranged at a point adjacent the hand crank 25.

Means is provided for delivering the material or article to the bottom plate and includes an elevator conveyor of the endless type supported by the frame 24 and carrying the material to a horizontal conveyor which extends from the elevator to within the car or bin being loaded. The horizontal conveyor delivers to a distributor head 3T the endless scrapers 36 carrying the ma* terial along the bottom of the conveyor until it drops therein. l delivery spout 38 is swiveled upon the distributor head 37 and may be turned to follow the platform l2 to deliver the material to the bottom plate 17 of the platform. rlhe elevator' 35 and horizontal conveyor 36 are driven from a motor 89 by suitable motion transmission means which preferably includes a belt 40 driven from the transmission shaft of the engine and driving a jack shaft by means of a pulley 41over which the belt 40 runs. The jack shaft 42 is journaled in suitable bearings 48 arranged upon the frame 24. The jack shaft has fixed thereto a small pulley 44 which drives a pulley 45 fixed to the upper sprocket Wheel shaft 4G of the elevator' 35 by means of a belt 4T. The endless scraper of the horizontal conveyor 8G is driven from the sprocket shaft 45 of the elevator by' means of the belt 4S which runs over a pulley 49 fixed to one of the sprocket Wheel shafts of the horizontal conveyor and a suitable driving pulley 50 fixed to the sprocket wheel shaft 46 of the elevator.

Means is provided for discharging material `from the bottom or bottom plate of the platform and includes a frame mounted upon vthe top surface of the verti-l cal portions 13b of the' angle bars 13. Art the opposite ends of the frame, shafts 56 :ind 57 are journaled and carry sprocket Wheels 58 and respectively, uponY which are mounted endless sprocket chains G0 carryingV transverse scraper elements, preferably in the form of T-bars 61. These scraper elements are arranged at regular spaced'intervals around the entire i' extent of the sprocket chains and during their travel they slidably engage the bottom plate 17 or such portion of the bottom plate as underlies these scraperelements. The shafts 56 and 57 also `carry rollers which may be integrallyT formed with the sprocket Wheels and which engage the top of the verticalportion of the angle bars 1,3, ivhereby the frame 55 may be readilyv moved 'relative to the platform- Means is provided for `guiding the frame during its movement and for locking it in either of its positions and includes a bracket 63 having an aperture 63 therein adapted to be alined With similar apertures formed in the portion 13b of the platform and a cotter pin or other form of locking pin 64 adapted to be extended through the alined openings to lock the frame in either position. l

Driving` mechanism is provided for the endless scraper and includes a squared shaft 65 made up of a plurality of sections release ably coupled by means of coupling members 66. The shaft is journaled at one end in the bearing bracket 67 and is driven at this end by means of gearing 68 from the jack snaft 42. At its opposite end the shaft 66 is adapted to be slidably received in either of the squared sockets 69 or 70. rhese sockets 69 and 70 are provided in and entend through the sprocket wheel shafts 55 and 5T, respectively, and it is to be understood that when the conveyor' is in one of its positions the shaft is engaged in the squared socket 69 of the shaft and that when it is in its other position it engages in the squared socket of the shaft 67.- ln either event the squared socket serves to couple the shaft 65 to the sprocket Wheel shaft and to also support this end of the shaft.

ln operation the elevator 35 picks up the material articles being handled and carries them to `the horizontal conveyor 36 from which they are delivered to the distributor head- 8T and the delivery spout 38 then delivers the material upon the bot tom plate of the platform 1:2. The Scrapers 61 discharge the material endvvise from the bottom plate into the bin or car being loaded. As the loading operation progresses the platform fed.` transversely or across the bin or car by turning the shaft 23 and the bot-- tom or bottom plate is also moved longitudinally byjturning the shaft 28 and in all positions the endless scrapers constituted by chain and Scrapers Glare continuously driven as the squared drive shaft slidably extends through the socket of the sprocket shaft. The operation is thus continuous until lone-half ofthe car has been loaded and during this continuous operation for this period the material is evenly distributed over this arearof the car or bin. `When approximately one-half has been loaded, the endless scraper must be shifted from one extreme position that is in the position shown in Figure 2 to the position shown in Figure 3. This is easily done by disconnecting the shaft 65 from its squared socket, releasing the locking pin 64 and movinc` the endless scraper along the platform from one end tol theother and then recou- 'pling the shaft and then reinserting the locking pin' andthe squared shaft. The operation islthen carried on as before Withthe exception that the bottom'platefisv now moved in the opposite direction."l y Previously it has been moved from the. right "to the left and itis now moved from the left to the right. It is to be understood that the feeding or movement of the platform trans'- versely varies the lateral point of discharge of the material into the bin or car and the feeding or movement `of 'the bottom plate varies the longitudinal point of discharge and as these movements are-"coordinated, the oint of discharge isalvvayscontrolled by t 1e operator so that the'materialmay be controlled and uniformly distributed over the car or bin being loaded.

I claim:

l. In a material and article handling apparatus, supporting means, a transverse movable platform carried by said supporting means and having a longitudinal movable bottom plate, mechanism for imparting transverse movement to said platform, mechanism for imparting longitudinal movement to said bottom plate, means for delivering the material to the bottom plate including an elevator, a horizontal conveyor leading from said elevator, a distributor head receiving the discharge of said horizontal conveyor and a svvivelled delivery spout carried by the distributing head and adapted to follovv the transverse movable platform in its movements, means for driving said elevator and said horizontal conveyor and means for discharging the material from the bottom plate including a pair of endless chains carrying spaced scraper bars slidably engaged with the bottom plate.

2. In a material and article handling apparatus, supporting means, a platform carried by said supporting means and movable transversely thereof, mechanism including a rack connected to the platform and a driving pinion meshing With said rack for imparting transverse movement to said platform, said platform having a longitudinally sliding bottom plate, mechanism for impart-- ing movement to said bottom plate, means for delivering the material to the bottom plate, and means for discharging the material therefrom.

3. In a material and article handling apparatus, a transversely movable platform having a longitudinally slidable bottom plate, means for delivering the material to the bottom plate including a syviveled delivery spout adapted to follow the platform in its movements, and means for discharging the material from the bottom plate in all of its positions including endless chains and scrapers carried by said chains and having slidable engagement With said bottomplate.

4. In a material and article'handling apparatus, a transversely movable platform havirig a longitudinally slidable bottom plate, means for delivering the material to the bottom plate, and `means for discharging the material from the bottom plate in all of its positions including endless chains and scrapers carried by said chains and having slidable engagement with said bottom plate.

5. In amaterial and article handling apparatus, a transversely movable platform having a longitudinally slidable bottom plate, means for delivering the material to the bottom plate,='including a sWiveled delivery spout adaptedrto follow the platform in its movements, and means for. discharging the material from the bottom plate `in `all of its positions. I l .f

6. In a material and article handling apparatus, a transversely movable platform having a longitudinally slidable bottom plate, mechanism for imparting transverse movement to said platform, mechanism for imparting longitudinal movement to said bottom plate, means for delivering the material to the bottom plate and means for discharging the material therefrom.

7 In a material and article handling apparatus, a transversely movable platform including spaced and longitudinally extending angle bars, a bottom plate slidably carried by the horizontal portions of said angle bars, means for delivering the material to the bottom plate, and means for discharging the material therefrom.

8. In a material and article handling apparatus, a transversely movable platform having a longitudinally slidable bottom' plate, means for delivering the material to the bottomv plate of said platform, and means for discharging the material therefrom in all phases of its movement.

9. In a material and article handling apparatus, a movable platform having a bottom adapted to partake of movement angularly With respect to the platform, means for delivering the material to said bottom, and means for discharging the material therefrom in its various positions.

l0. In a material and article handling apparatus, a transversely movable platform including spaced and longitudinally extending angle bars, a bottom plate slidably carried by the horizontal portions of said angle bars, means for delivering the material to the bottom plate, and means for discharging the material therefrom including a frame slidably mounted on the vertical portion of said angle bars, means for guiding the frame and for locking it in position thereon, spaced shafts journaled in said frame, endless chains driven from said shafts, spaced scraper elements carried by said endless chains, and engageable with said bottom plate, and means for driving said shafts in either position of said frame.

l1. In a material and article handling apparatus, a transversely movable platform including spaced and longitudinally extendin angle bars, a bottom plate slidably carried by the horizontal portions of said angle 5 bars, means for delivering the material 10 said shafts, scraper elements carried by said endless chains and engageable with said bottom plate, and means for driving said shafts in either position of said frame including` a squared shaft adapted to be slidably received l5 in the squared sockets.

l2. In a material and article handling ap paratus, a movable platform having a loottom adapted to partake of movement angularly with respect to the platform, means for delivering the material to said bottom, and means for discharging the material therefrom including a frame movably mounted in said platform, spaced shafts journaled in said frame and having squared sockets, an endless scraper driven from the shaft and cooperated with said bottom to discharge the material endwise therefrom, and means for driving said endless scraper including a squared drive shaft adapted to be slidably engaged With the squared sockets of said spaced shafts.

DANIEL WEBSTER CAMERON. 

